Konoha's MikoNin!
by DeathNoteMaker
Summary: After the final battle, Kagome is reverted back into a child and is sent to Naruto’s time/world with Kirara. Found by an ANBU member, she’s taken to the Hokage and is immediately enrolled into the Shinobi Academy. Now thirteen, best friends with Naruto...
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Inuyasha. They belong to their rightful creators and distributors.

AN: Yep I am taking over this fic for Bishi-chan, and a chapter of my own will be out soon. But I am still taking votes for pairings. XD

Category: Crossover

Anime(s)/Manga(s)/Cartoon(s): Naruto/Inuyasha

Genre: Romance/Drama/Humor/Spiritual/Action

Pairing: Not sure, but I'm willing to take votes on who Kagome should be paired with. I'll even take votes that are Kagome/Male Harem.

Summary: After the final battle, Kagome is reverted back into a child and is sent to Naruto's time/world with Kirara. Found by an ANBU member, she's taken to the Hokage and is immediately enrolled into the Shinobi Academy. Now thirteen, best friends with Naruto, and soon to become a Genin, how will Kagome's presence change the outcome of future events to come?

_**Chapter One**_

A pair of sapphire eyes turned their attention from the ceiling and toward her calendar to see a big red circled around the date that was supposed to be two days away; the day when she had to take the final exam to graduate from the Shinobi Academy and become an official Genin.

Kagome sighed before giving a slight grunt from Kirara deciding to hop onto her chest and make herself comfortable. After the miko's gaze connected with the Nekomatta's red-orange eyes, she gave a warm smile before petting her neko friend.

Her mind then started to drift to the day she had arrived in Konoha…

It was after the final battle with Naraku and when the jewel became complete that the said jewel had decided to revert her back to when she was five years old before letting it self be absorbed into her body, back in her hip where Mistress Centipede had tore it from.

Her departure from the Sengoku was sudden but Kagome and her friends prepared for it, knowing that it was a possibility of not being able to say goodbye to each other. The only one from her group she wasn't separated from was the nekomatta that was currently starting to doze on her chest. Kagome guessed it was because Sango wanted her Taijya companion to have a good home after deciding to retire and settle down with Miroku.

At her departure, Kagome and Kirara arrived in what seemed to be a forest full of lush green trees. She knew that she wasn't in the Sengoku era or her time because of the feel and cleanness of her surroundings. Because a miko was basically one with every living creature around her, Kagome was able to understand and feel such things about the earth beneath her feet.

After a while of freaking out and whining about her shrinking down to size and having to grow and go through puberty all over again, Kagome, with Kirara at her side, decided to wander around in hopes of finding a town or a village. Some odd hours later, a man who was dressed in black and grey clothing and a traditional animal mask found them. The only thing she could distinguish from the man was that he had almost gravity-defying silver hair.

She and Kirara weren't afraid of him when they felt he wasn't a threat. If he was, he could've killed them easily with her power being reduced almost greatly due to her reverted age.

He asked her name and where her family was, and getting good answers, he picked her up in his arms and jumped from branch to branch, heading toward what was most likely his village. And what a village it was! Konoha, she remembered him calling it, was so huge that it be equivalent to a small town.

After seeing the Hokage, an elderly and sweet man, and answering a few questions, he let her stay in the village. The Hokage had said he had a feeling that she would full of promise and Kirara looked like she would make a wonderful Nin-kin for Kagome.

They gave her, her own apartment and such so that she could live on her own. A couple days after, she was enrolled in the village's Shinobi Academy. Like any person on their first day, Kagome was a bit nervous but got over it as the day carried on. She even made good friends with the class clown, Naruto.

They hung out a lot together and Kagome usually although rarely helped him in his pranks.

During the time she had been with him, Kagome didn't understand why everyone seemed to hate him so much, especially the adults. She had a feeling it had something to do with the demonic energy that usually emitted from the blond.

But she didn't care. She liked Naruto. He was like a more attention hungry version of her Shippó. His antics and the way he behaved were very similar to a kitsune. After first meeting him, she could sense that, aside from his actual aura, there was another that was demonic. She had no idea how that happened, but she guessed that the Sandaime Hokage knew.

Either way it didn't matter to her. The demonic aura was separate entity from Naruto. Not to mention the demon aura was almost dormant, so it wasn't a threat.

Kagome also had a feeling that most of the older villagers hated Naruto because of that demon aura.

Sighing once more, Kagome turned over to her side letting Kirara curl up next to her stomach before turning the light off on her nightstand and falling asleep.

XoXoXoXoXoXoXo

The next day, during class… Kagome couldn't help but sweatdrop from her seat as she saw her friend being tied up, sitting on the floor as Iruka-sensei spoke in a scolding manner, "Listen, Naruto. You failed the last final exam and the one before that. You shouldn't be fooling around like that."

The blond just turned his head to the side stubbornly with his nose turned up, making an angry tick appear on Iruka's temple before he turned to the class sharply and announced, "We're going to have a review test for the transformation technique! Those who had already passed will have to line up as well!"

At this, the entire classroom, save for Sasuke, and Kagome (she just slapped her forehead in a "Doe!" manner) complained and whined.

After a while with everyone getting in line in front of the classroom, Sakura stepped up to take her test and transforming into a perfect copy of Iruka. Once she had passed, she started jumping around excitedly and asking Sasuke if he saw her 'perfect' transformation.

The Uchiha didn't say anything while ignoring her but stepped up after Iruka called up his name. He too made a perfect transformation of Iruka before going to the back of the line. The Chuunin teacher then called Naruto up.

Ino and Shikamaru complained how it was Naruto's fault that they all had to take the review test, even when they passed it. Naruto stated that he didn't care as he stepped up. Kagome, who was standing next to Naruto in line, made a humph sound that caught Ino and Shikamaru's attention as she said, "Please… Iruka-sensei was gonna make us take a review test before the day was over anyway. So it's not Naruto's entire fault we had to take the test. The ones who already passed were forced from Iruka-sensei's anger."

Naruto then started to channel his chakra before he was engulfed in a puff of smoke. But instead of transforming into Iruka… Kagome held back a laugh when she saw that Naruto transformed into a female eighteen year old version of himself, naked and with two long high pigtails. Streams of steam covered the more private parts of his female form.

The transformation made Iruka look like he had gone into shock before being pushed back by the force of his nosebleed.

After transforming back, Naruto laughed, "How was _that_? I call it the _Oiroke no Jutsu_!"

Iruka soon got back onto his feet, twists of tissue stuffed into his nostrils to absorb the blood that was clogging up his nose as he yelled, "You dumb ass! Don't invent stupid skills!"

'Actually… it's not that stupid, if your opponent is a closet pervert and serves as a good destraction.' Kagome thought with a smirk and a mirthful glint in her eye as she added, 'and that gives me an idea… I wonder if any of the girls here are closet pervs…'

"Next, Higurashi Kagome." Iruka called after Naruto stopped playing around and made a copy of Iruka with only one flaw (Like a pointed nose).

"Do your best Kags." Kagome heard Naruto mutter as he went to the back of the line.

The miko-nin smirked toward his back before facing her sensei and asking, "Ne, sensei… before I start, can I try something out first?"

Iruka looked at her curiously before saying, "Do the Test first and then you can test what you have in mind."

"Fair enough." Kagome stated before getting into position for the jutsu. And in a puff of smoke, she made a perfect copy of Iruka before transforming back when Iruka already jotted down a grade for her. After he did so, he asked, "So what did you want to test out?"

At Kagome's mirthful grin that looked so similar to Naruto's when he's thinking of something close to a prank, Iruka started to regret giving her permission to try something out.

After the miko-nin positions her hands in the '_henge_' posture, she transformed again in a puff of smoke. As the smoke cleared… there was an eighteen year old male version of her with longer, slightly messy hair, lean muscles, and naked. A stream of mist covered the nether regions while snaking around her legs as she gave a sexy smirk.

Soon after seeing her male form, all the girls in the class (minus Hinata who turned away in embarrassment and blushing badly) screamed in a fan-girl way with hearts in their eyes and drooling.

The guys, minus Naruto (who was laughing his butt off), were shocked that the girl they admired would pull such a stunt that was similar the dead last of their class. Even Sasuke was shocked that his interest would pull something so childish and vulgar.

When Kagome transformed back, she pointed an accusing finger to all the girls in class, yelling, "I _knew _it! All of you girls who are Sasuke Fans except Hinata-chan are closet perverts!"

XoXoXoXoXoXoXo

Unfortunately, at the end of the day for her stunt, Kagome was forced to clean the Hokage faces that Naruto vandalized with paint… and with the said culprit too.

Iruka had been shocked that she had pulled such a stunt and asked who taught it to her. He most like thought that Naruto taught but… that wasn't really right. It was really Kagome who taught him the jutsu. It had happened after Kagome was taught the "henge no jutsu" and wanted to see her teen body when she got home. She did the jutsu perfectly with a pajama set on. That was when Naruto came in through her bedroom window while still in her teen form. He thought that it was cool that she was able to make an adult form of herself and asked if she could teach him to transform into an adult version of himself.

After five days of many tries, he was able to do so and Kagome had to admit that Naruto was really good looking as an adult with lean muscles, messy spiky golden hair and these really nice crystal blue eyes. Hell, she nearly fainted from her heart skipping a beat at the sight of him.

Then one day, Kagome wondered what she would look like as a boy and tried it out with satisfying results. Soon after seeing her male transformation, Naruto started to try out transforming into a female version of his self. His first try had gone so wrong with getting his female form out of proportion that Kagome just HAD to help him without him getting ideas of sneaking into an adult bookstore and get in trouble in the end by picking up any nudie magazines.

Within a week of that, the _Oiroke no Jutsu_ was created with Naruto just taking away the clothing part. Kagome told Iruka this while also saying that she was curious as to how her female classmates would react and to see if they were closet perverts. Now here she was with Naruto, cleaning up a mess that wasn't even made by her. Beside her, Naruto was cursing as he scrubbed away the red paint he used along side her as Iruka watched them with a careful eye and Kirara was sitting next to him.

Kagome was taking the punishment pretty well… even though she would prefer cleaning the classroom rather than the paint on the Hokage Mountain. She'll admit it was her own fault for letting her curiosity get the best of her. So she wasn't going to complain. "I won't let you two go home until all the Hokage faces are spotless!" Iruka announced with a stern face and his arms crossed in a firm manner.

A bit ticked, Naruto yelled, "Who cares? It's not like anybody's waiting for us at home!" He went back to scrubbing, as Kagome looked at him from the corner of her eye before she did the same. That was another thing that brought her and Naruto to become friends, the two of them lived alone and grew up alone even though Kagome still had her family despite they were worlds or eras away.

Iruka stared at the two with a slight frown, knowing that what Naruto said about them not having anyone waiting for them at home was true. He had already known about Naruto's past but all he knew about Kagome was that she first came to Konoha after being found by Hatake Kakashi when he was still in ANBU member. What he had from the Hokage, Kagome was separated from her family. And when she said, "They're not in the same plain of existence as me." He and many others assumed that they were dead.

Kagome was a sweet girl who had a lot of potential to become a strong Kunoichi and was very observant and mature for her age. And she was a hard worker for someone who started out with no real desire to become a shinobi. Not to mention she got along with almost everyone but seemed to be more connected with Naruto more than anyone and also hung out with him more.

After a few moments of silence and staring at his two students, Iruka called their attention and offered that if they cleaned the Hokage faces really good then he would treat them to ramen. This made Naruto excited as he started to scrub the paint of more feverishly. Kagome giggled at her friend's mood change from the mere mention of ramen and replied to Iruka, "Alright Sensei! We'll have it finished by tonight before dinner."

And that's exactly what they did. By the time the sun started to set, they were finished cleaning all the paint off the Hokage faces. By the time they made it to the Ichiraku Ramen shop, it was already dark with the three eating their orders of ramen and the owner gave Kirara a small but good sized slab of salmon.

As Kagome ate her mild curry flavored ramen and Kirara ate next to her with a happy and blissful purr, Iruka asked why Naruto vandalized the Hokage faces.

"You do know who the Hokage are, right?"

"Of course I do!" Naruto answered with a mouth full. After drinking down the broth and setting his bowl down when he was done, he continued, "Those who carry the name of Hokage are the village's number one ninja, right?" Looking up with a serious face he mentioned, "And the Yondaime was the hero who protected the village from the Kyuubi twelve years ago."

"Even knowing that much, why did you…?" Kagome asked, curious as to why her friend pulled such a prank earlier that day during school.

Naruto grinned at Kagome as he answered with confidence and determination; "I'm going to receive the name of Hokage one day and become greater than the previous Hokages! Then, I'm going to make everyone in the village recognize my existence." Kagome softly smiled at that dream. Naruto had told it to her many times in the past and wanted to make that dream come true because he wanted the village to acknowledge him without him having to pull pranks, no matter how fun the pranks were.

After Iruka slurped the rest of the noodle into him mouth, Naruto asked, "By the way, sensei, I have a favor to ask."

Iruka raised a brow, "You want another bowl?"

Naruto then started to pull of his Kit charm in acting innocent before putting his hands together and asked, "No. Can I put on that Konoha _hitai-ate_?"(I think that's out you spell the forehead protector in Japanese… correct me if I'm wrong) Iruka then refused Naruto his request before telling him the purpose of the _hitai-ate_, what it symbolized and that Naruto will have to wait until tomorrow to get his.

"STINGY!" Naruto cried out before pouting, making Kagome giggle a bit before drinking the broth of her ramen.

Their sensei just laughed, asking, "Is that why you took your goggles off?"

As Naruto requested for seconds, Iruka made a shocked sound as Kagome laughed. After they were done eating, Kagome offered Naruto to stay at her place so that she could help him study for the final exam tomorrow. But even though he didn't want to study, Naruto followed her to her apartment so that she could help him practice and review for their final exam.

Iruka smiled as the pair of blue-eyed friends left with Kirara taking one last bite from her salmon before catching up with her mistress and climbing up into her shoulder. Before they left with promises to see their sensei tomorrow, Kagome paid for her ramen and Kirara's salmon, despite that Iruka said that it was his treat.

The Chuunin teacher couldn't help but noticed that out of everyone in the village, Kagome was the only one who Naruto seemed to listen to and accepted help from when it came to his Shinobi studies.

Despite that Kagome, at first, wasn't really interested in becoming a shinobi, she was an excellent student who wasn't afraid to try new things if it meant taking her one step closer to becoming stronger than she used to. He could also tell that the young girl wasn't afraid to test any new jutsus she had in mind. Sometimes he could see that she seemed far more mature than any of his students, including Uchiha Sasuke. With a jounin, Sarutobi Asuma's help, Iruka was able to get an idea on how old Kagome's mentality may be.

The results they got from a certain test, even Asuma was surprised by them but not as much as Iruka.

The young girl's mentality was equivalent to that of an adolescent in her late teens, maybe even older with how shockingly observant she could be. And that alone made her formidable, despite her strength and chakra level especially when she seemed to almost know what you were thinking.

And the way the young girl with the two-tailed cat acted around the hyperactive blond was like the way an older sister would act around her younger brother or something similar.

Iruka could see that Naruto treasured Kagome because she was the only friend he ever made. Not to mention the first to really actually care about his existence and saw him as family.

Yes, he could see that they were family even beyond the concept of blood.

As the two disappeared in the night crowd, Iruka silently wished them luck in being able to pass the Final exam to become official ninjas.

XoXoXoXoXoXoXo

After an almost all-nighter with Kagome helping him review over the techniques they might have to perform for the final exam, the day for the said exam came quicker than they would've liked. Not to mention Kagome and Naruto still looked half asleep when they entered the classroom and were yawning every now and then. Especially when they decided to come to class early.

They were soon wide-awake after, cruelly enough, Iruka had to use a scare tactic on both of them. The poor things were scared out of their wits but from Kagome… it wasn't really such a good idea because instincts kicked in and made her go on the defensive wielding a very well taken care of, sharp Kunai, ready to kill.

What Iruka did to scare them was using a fake but still realistic looking spider. And because the raven-haired girl was almost just absolutely terrified of the eight legged creatures, Iruka was certain her terrified screams would scare awake Naruto who was more tired than her and would be caught off guard.

Taking out the stupid fake arachnid he had confiscated from one of his students earlier in the year, Iruka walked up to both of them with a blank expression. As soon he was in front of Kagome who was nodding off a little but didn't acknowledge his presence yet, the Chuunin dangled the bug prop in front of Kagome's face before calling her name.

With a sleepy grunt that sounded cute to most of the guys in the class before opening her eyes groggily… a scream soon erupted from her throat, which sure enough got Naruto up in hysterics wondering what had his friend so scared. The class laughs carried through the class before they abruptly stopped when they witnessed Kagome take out a kunai and threw it at the fake spider and impaled it to the wall at the front of the class.

The action also seemed to have made Naruto halt in his hysterics with a wide-eyed shocked look from how quick Kagome reacted and threw her kunai. At Kagome's terrified face, Iruka mentally beat himself for forgetting that his student had a great underlying fear of spiders.

Why?

At first he thought it was because, like most girls, it was a natural fear. But unlike most of the girls of his class who would squeal before crying out "Kill it! Kill it!", Kagome would just freeze up before shake uncontrollably. Many knew that her fear ran deeply, most likely from a past experience before she came to live in Konoha. The only difference now and the first time they found out about her fear was, back then Kagome's flight or fight response would choose flight, backing her into a corner while crying from being so deathly scared and shaking uncontrollably. And now that she was well trained with Shuriken and Kunai, her response would be to fight. Iruka also noticed that even though she still shook like a leaf in a strong breeze, she wasn't crying as she tried calming herself down with Naruto saying that it was okay and there was nothing to worry about.

After Iruka deeply apologized for scaring her so badly truthfully telling her that he had forgotten how intense her fear of spiders were, a couple of the girl in the class who were deeply devoted Sasuke fans (except Ino and Sakura) started to make snide remarks about how pathetic she was to scared of some measly spiders while gaining a few glares from the guys, as well as Ino, Sakura, and Hinata who thought, 'You guys were no different from her when you started your first year at the academy.'

The said girls soon stopped at the dark look that appeared in Kagome eyes, making them shake slightly from fright.

That look the Higurashi girl gave them seemed like she could pierce into their souls. It also showed that she had been through more than anyone could possibly imagine and was lucky enough to live through it. The utmost devoted Sasuke fans held their tongues before turning their gazes to the front, both embarrassed and frightened at the same time. Not wanting to feel the wrath that Kagome could no doubt do to them. It wasn't her skills or strength that scared them, no, it was the way she could be so terrifyingly observant and KNOW just what they're feeling and sometimes thinking.

That, above all else, was what made them steer clear from her.

Iruka then took his place in front of the classroom after apologizing one more time. Ino, who was sitting right behind the miko, leaned over her desk and rested a hand on Kagome's shoulder, asking if she was really okay. Despite that Ino was a Sasuke fan her self, she never shared a resentment for Kagome like the others all because she seemed to be able to get along with the Uchiha boy a bit and gained respect from him because she often paid her respects to the Uchiha District. Not to mention, Kagome was a good customer of the Yamanaka Florist Shop- buying flowers for the deceased clan's district or some other part of Konoha that had a passing.

Aside from all of that, Ino liked Kagome. She was a good friend and was knowledgeable on medicinal herbs and their properties. The young Yamanaka felt connected to her because of that.

Kagome reassured the blond haired girl that she was fine and just a bit shaken, telling that her shinobi training had helped her overcome her fear somewhat. Once everyone had calmed down and Iruka was sure Kagome was back to her normal self, he announced, "Alright, guys. We will now start the final exam. If your name is called, come to the classroom next door. The subject will be the _Bunshin no Jutsu_."

Kagome and Naruto stiffened at hearing what the subject for the exam was. Well, Kagome stiffened. Naruto looked like he was close to having a panic.

Sure, last night they practiced that jutsu the most because it was Naruto's worst Jutsu. Before Kagome's reviewing last night, he was only able to make one that was completely useless. After last night, he's able to make the average of 3 to 4 but the results were the same as when he could only summon one. And Kagome, even though she could do the jutsu no problem when practicing, her nervousness about tests sometimes makes her lose her concentration on how much chakra she should use and usually ends up making less or far more than the recommended amount of replicas. And when she makes too many, she usually ends up tiring herself because of the stress and everything comes crashing down on her.

Sometime later, after the blue-eyed duo gave each other encouragement and reassurance of passing, Kagome was called up. She made her way to the next classroom over where Iruka and another sensei, Mizuki were sitting. She gave a nervous smile to Iruka, already over the fake spider incident he pulled to wake her and Naruto up. But when looking at Mizuki…

The miko-nin didn't know but for some reason, she never could bring herself to trust the white-haired man. She always had some sort of feeling that he was plotting something evil. And she never did like the way he looked at her when she used her _henge no jutsu _to change into her adult self… like the time she did so to get something from a high shelf she couldn't reach on one of her trips to the grocery store.

After getting what she needed, she felt Mizuki staring at her like a predator would to his prey.

She immediately transformed back looking at him with a frown, gaining a surprised look from him when he realized she only used a jutsu to look older and taller. The bastard also looked like he was going to approach her or something before she transformed back. The damned Touji was a freakin' pervert and a cheater! The bastard was ENGAGED for god's sake!

Ignoring Mizuki for the sake of taking her final, Kagome set her hands in the common position and concentrated on her chakra flow. Calling out the Jutsu's name, she was surrounded by a puff of smoke. When the smoke cleared, Kagome hesitantly took a peak to see how many replicas she made and what was their condition.

Much to her surprise, she had made five replicas and looked to be in perfect condition. Although, she felt a bit drained, she did her best not to show it. Iruka was impressed that Kagome was able to make two more than the recommended about of replicas and without getting tired, from what he could see.

He smiled proudly at her before announcing that she graduated and held out the _Hitai-ate_ that she rightfully earned and a slip that showed the date and time to meet for when she will be put into a Genin team. After undoing her jutsu, she excitedly walked out of the classroom and down the hall to wait outside the school while tying her new _hitai-ate_ around the crown of her head. The metal part with Konoha's insignia engraved on it, barely covered by her dark bangs.

While outside, she waited for Naruto as most of the kids played, waited for their parents, or were with their parents getting praises and promises of having their favorite dinner dish or dessert made when they got home.

Seeing all the families together almost made her homesick, wishing that her mother, Jí-chan, and her brother, Souta were here with her to see her. But she pushed those feelings down, knowing that it won't help anything. But she did hope that they were doing well and weren't worrying about her too much after not coming home for who knows how long. From under the tree that had a swing hanging from one of its branches, Kagome sat waiting for the hyper blond to come meet her while hoping with all her soul that Naruto finally passed and became an official ninja like he dreamed.

Kagome's face lit up when she saw Naruto walking towards her. Her expression faltered a bit at feeling and seeing how sad he looked. Once he was standing in front of her, she asked him where his _hitai-ate_ was. Naruto lifted his head up to stare at Kagome's eyes before answering with a defeated sigh, "I didn't get one… I didn't graduate." He then made his way to sit on the swing.

"But… you worked so hard and we stayed up almost all night working on that jutsu. What happened?" Kagome didn't understand. Naruto worked so hard last night to get the _Bunshin no Jutsu _right. Even to the point where he almost exhausted his chakra reserves. Sighing once more, Naruto explained, "Even though I made the recommended amount of three replicas… they didn't pass me because my replicas were basically useless." A part of Naruto felt like he not only failed himself, but he also failed Kagome because she went out of her way to help him study the techniques that would most likely their final exam. She was so patient with him and so helpful… yet he failed her by not being able to pass and graduate.

Feeling a pair of thin but femininely lithe arms wrap around him, he turned slightly to see Kagome also resting her head on his shoulder, saying that everything will turn out all right somehow.

Finished! This fic is dedicated to Uchiha Bitch (now called Two Tailed Cat Demon), because she's an awesome writer and friend who helped me start reading Naruto/Inuyasha Xovers.

This is also posted because I finally found out that my mother is going to get married at the beginning of November this year! Congrats to her!

Anyways, Please leave a review, they are most appreciated and help me write more. Suggestions and ideas are also welcome, along with pairing ideas (including the Kagome/Male Harem ones). And lastly, Flamers with their flames can hit the road for all I care.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Inuyasha. They belong to their rightful creators and distributors. But if I did own Naruto, I wouldn't have put in so many filler episodes that don't seem to make any sense. I also don't own any songs that may appear in this fic. They belong to their rightful artists.

AN: XD Yep another of Bishi-chan's chapters! Just posting the story up, so Bishi-chan can finally delete the story from her page.

Anyways, hope you guys enjoy this next chapter.

_**Chapter Two**_

Kagome and Naruto's embrace was interrupted as Kagome felt Naruto's aura grow sadder at hearing the praises all the parents were giving their kids. The miko-nin knew that Naruto wished he had caring parents.

His aura then turned slightly angry at hearing a pair of mothers talk about them. Kagome noticed that one of them was Mizuki's Fiancée. She and her friend talked about how it served Naruto right that he had failed and if he became a ninja, it would only cause trouble. They also talked about her and she must be stupid to be friends with Naruto and other bits of crap that spouted out of their mouths.

Not being able to stand hearing their trash about her and Naruto, Kagome asked the blond prankster if he would like to go shopping with her to get some things for dinner tonight. Naruto declined, saying that he'd like to be alone for a while before heading home. Despite that Kagome didn't want to leave the boy alone, she made no argument and obeyed his request for some solitude.

After she left, Mizuki took this time to approach Naruto and make his plan go into motion.

The Sandaime Hokage and Iruka watched with careful eyes before the Hokage asked to have a word with the Chuunin at his side.

XoXoXoXoXoXoXo

"I… really wanted to graduate. Kagome-chan was so patient with me when helping me… I didn't want to disappoint her." Naruto said to Mizuki when he told him why Iruka always seemed to 'pick on him'.

A dark look appeared in Mizuki's eyes before it vanished as he mentioned to Naruto that he knew a secret in how Naruto can graduate and maybe please Kagome.

If he can graduate, then he could be with Kagome on a team and not be left behind.

XoXoXoXoXoXoXo

By a little past sundown, Kagome made it home to her apartment that was some blocks away from Naruto's apartment building. It was just a simple one-bedroom apartment complete with a nice kitchenette, bathroom, and good-sized living room. Even though Kagome had been in Konoha for a few years, she never bought any personal possessions unless they were necessary.

In the apartment, she only had the essential pieces of furniture like a comfortable bed, a low table in the living room, a shelf full of Jutsu scrolls, and the proper cooking utensils in the Kitchenette. With the money the Hokage always sent to her, she only ever bought things for the bathroom, clothes when she truly needed them, and groceries so that she wouldn't starve.

While shopping for dinner, Kirara had taken off to hunt around the village for any rats or other rodents that were scurrying in the city. The neko-matta may live with the miko-nin and got along nicely with some human, but she was still a wild demon in many ways and was in tuned with her instincts to hunt.

Kagome didn't mind though. She knew that Kirara could take care of her self. And if she was ever in trouble, she could just transform into her larger form and scare the wits out of anyone who tries to catch her or something.

After opening the door, Kagome, who had her arms full of bagged fresh groceries for supper, accidentally set off a trap that was of explosions that were all around the doorframe. The new Miko Genin never suspected the trapped when she opened the door.

The said explosion was enough to make the building and the ground shake. Not to mention it caught the attention of most of the residents as well as the nearby shinobi, both Chuunin and Jounin.

The force of the explosion made Kagome fly over the railing that was outside her apartment. Her natural defense mechanisms that were connected to her miko energy formed a barrier that reduced the damaged she would've most likely received. All of her body was protected from the explosion but her forearms received second-degree burns when she carried her bags through the door seconds before the explosion.

The force of the explosion and the pain she got from her burns also made her lose consciousness as she fell from her floor.

A shinobi who was nearby- Shiranui Genma came to investigate and caught her in time before she hit the ground. Gemna really didn't know Kagome well but he had heard that she was a sweet girl, despite that most of the village despised her for being friends with Naruto.

A few other shinobi came and saw one of their new Genin was injured and their home was now on fire. All wondered who could've done such a thing. Sure, this one genin was hated a bit because of her relationship with Kyuubi vessel but to set a trap with explosions in her home was going way too far.

A couple of the older stayed behind to get help and put out the fire while Genma took Kagome to the hospital to treat the burns on her arms and report to the Hokage of what happened.

Also, a few others started to investigate who could've possibly set the trap, although they had hate filled theories that it was Naruto.

XoXoXoXoXoXoXo

Later on, most of the Jounin and Chuunin were gathered, hearing that Naruto had stolen the Forbidden Scroll of Sealing. They also came to conclusions that Naruto may have set the explosions in Kagome's apartment while most of them doubted it, seeing as they witnessed how close the two were.

As Mizuki arrived after telling Iruka the news of what happened, the Hokage ordered them to search for Naruto and bring him to the Hokage Tower.

All the shinobi who were present quickly vanished to search for Naruto and get the Scroll of Sealing back.

Iruka searched hard for Naruto, hoping to find him before any of the others could. A part of him didn't want to believe that Naruto was the one who set the trap in Kagome's apartment. Not when the blond prankster treasured her so much. Someone else entirely must have set the explosion and put Kagome in the hospital. Something in him just knew that it was someone else, but didn't know who…

Hoping Kagome would be all right, Iruka picked up speed to look for Naruto.

Meanwhile, in the Konoha Hospital, Kagome woke up feeling someone wrapping her arms as gently as they could. She hissed at the throbbing and stinging pain as she fully awoke.

The medic-nin, who was a Hyuuga clan member, told her of her condition and what had happened. The Hyuuga was assigned to be Kagome's regular doctor, even though she had never been sick that much since arriving in Konoha.

She looked down at to see her arms. From her pinky fingers to her elbows, they were wrapped in crisp clean bandages. The once long sleeves of her favorite shirt were tattered and burned because of the explosion at her apartment door. A part of her was glad that Kirara wasn't there to meet her home or the neko-matta would've been caught up in the blast too. And surprisingly, to the medic-nins treating her, the rest of her body was undamaged save for a bruise that was on her back due to the railing outside her apartment hitting her when she was blown away by the explosion.

(All of her arms to her elbow were wrapped up, except her thumbs and first three fingers.)

After hearing a nurse saying that it was most likely Naruto who set the trap in her apartment, Kagome outright told her that it couldn't have been Naruto. She couldn't believe the words that were coming out of this woman's mouth that were just filled with hatred for a kid that didn't do anything but contain a demon within his body.

And sure, the boy was pretty skilled in setting up traps but he wasn't that skilled or mean enough to set a trap that had explosives. Not to mention, Naruto always fell asleep during their Weaponry Class when Iruka was explaining to them how exploding tags are created and put into effect. And he never played any pranks on her that did bodily damage. The worst he's done to her was scare her with that same spider Iruka used, earlier that day, when they first met and dyed her hair a bright gaudy color after putting some hair dye in her shampoo.

The Hokage completely agreed with Kagome's denial about Naruto setting the explosion in her apartment when he walked in. He had heard from Genma what had happened to Kagome and was worried and was relieved that she was okay with only her forearms burned. The Sandaime then broke the news to her in what Naruto had done, gaining a shocked expression from her. She was silent for a moment before pleading that she'd look for Naruto and talk some sense into him.

The medical staff was against it, not wanting one of their patients to leave their care and maybe make her injuries worse. But the Hokage gave her permission to do so, knowing that even if he forbade it, she would still sneak out and look for Naruto herself, despite her condition. He knew just how loyal and devoted Kagome was to her friends and she'd do whatever she could to stop them from taking a path they would most likely regret in the future.

After Kagome thanked him, she got off the bed she was lying on and jumped out the window and started her search for Naruto and the Scroll he had stolen, thinking how he had gone too far in this prank while trying to feel out the energy that belonged to the demon that resided within him.

XoXoXoXoXoXoXo

In the forest, outside an abandoned building, Naruto was on the ground catching his breath after tirelessly practicing the first jutsu that was in the Scroll of Sealing.

This was how Iruka found him before Naruto laughed while sheepishly scratching the back of his head, despite the scary looking expression the teacher held.

Iruka noticed that something was a little off as Naruto spoke, "Oh, man. I got caught. And I was only able to learn one technique."

'He practiced here… until he was all worn out?' Iruka thought as he stared at his student who looked slightly dirty, worn, and tired. The only times he had ever seen Naruto in such a state was whenever he was practicing with Kagome alone and gaining some tips from her.

Naruto then looked at him with hopeful yet excited eyes as he spoke, "Hey, I'm gonna show you a great technique, so let me graduate if I can do it. If I can show you a technique from this scroll, I can graduate right?"

"Who said that?" Iruka didn't know what Naruto was talking about. Graduate him if he's able to perform one of the Jutsus in the scroll? Who told him that?

"Mizuki-sensei did. He told me about this scroll and this place." The enthusiasm Naruto held in his voice faltered when he saw some sort of look of realization or dread appear on Iruka's face while Iruka was racking his mind as to why Mizuki told Naruto such a thing about the scroll and such.

At the feeling of someone near, the Chuunin turned to see some Kunai being thrown at him and Naruto. In order to avoid Naruto getting hurt, Iruka shoved him out of the way, letting the Kunai get him, trapping him into place against the outer wall of the building as one Kunai hit his right leg, staining the bandages wrapped around his thigh red with blood.

Mizuki then made his appearance, demanding Naruto to hand him the scroll.

XoXoXoXoXoXoXo

Elsewhere in the forest, Kagome was leaping from tree branch to tree branch as quickly as she could to reach where she sensed Naruto's demonic energy. She had to get to her friend… she was worried as to why his own chakra was fluctuating uncontrollably.

Something was wrong and Kagome had to find out what.

As she come closer and closer, she faintly sensed some of the Kyuubi's energy leaking with Naruto's chakra a little. Dreading that she may be wrong about the seal not breaking, Kagome picked up the pace.

XoXoXoXoXoXoXo

Back with Naruto, Mizuki was spouting lies about Iruka hating the young blond because he was the Kyuubi who killed his parents and that even Kagome hated him because he was a waste of her time and the only reason why she bothered to become friends with him was because she felt sorry for him.

Iruka kept yelling that none of what Mizuki was saying was true about Kagome and him hating Nartuo for those reasons.

All of this came as a shock to Naruto, finding out that the Kyuubi was sealed inside of him and he wanted to deny that Iruka and Kagome hated him, especially Kagome because of how caring she had been to him, always helping him and trying to keep him out of trouble.

While trying to ignore the pain in his leg caused by the kunai that was imbedded in it, Iruka remembered the Hokage's words about how Naruto grew up without knowing the love of a parent and would always be hated because of what happened with the Kyuubi. Also in why Naruto always pulled pranks just to be acknowledged- to be recognized.

"_And even though he acts tough, Naruto is always suffering from the inside. Kagome became a sort of godsend for Naruto because she had shown him what it's like to be loved by a friend. And for that, Naruto sees her as family and his sister despite that his first impression on her wasn't the best. She had become his most precious loved one that he would do anything to protect, even if it cost him his life." _

Those were the Hokage's words when he explained what Naruto most likely felt when concerning Kagome and how important she became to him… and Naruto to Kagome.

Mizuki then threw one of his large Shuriken that he had strapped to his back toward Naruto before Iruka told him to run for it. As Naruto tried to get away, Iruka knew that Naruto wouldn't escape in time so he ordered Naruto to duck and took the blow of the shuriken. One of its blades imbedded into his back as he had shielded Naruto from the attack.

Naruto looked up behind him, shocked that his sensei risked his life for his. A few drops of blood that Iruka coughed up landing on Naruto's right cheek.

Mizuki never expected Iruka to get in his way and this irritated him, knowing that the action Iruka made would give the brat some glimmer of hope.

Still in shock and confused, Naruto ask Iruka why he protected him. He always thought that Iruka sometimes thought of him as a thorn in his side… so why save him when he was containing the very monster that killed his parents so long ago?

The Chuunin just answered, "Because you're the same as me." Memories of Iruka's childhood flashed through the Chuunin's mind in how he was so similar to the boy he protected. "After my parents died, no one ever complimented me or recognize me. Being the bad student I was, I screwed up a lot during class… because I wanted to get everyone's attention. I couldn't get anyone's attention when I was a good student. So I acted like an idiot."

He started to feel his eyes sting, knowing the kind of pain Naruto must've felt being all alone, as he continued with his voice breaking, "It was tough." His tears then fell. "Right, Naruto? You were lonely right? Before Kagome came into your life? It was tough, right? You didn't have to feel that way if I was more aware. But Kagome… she must've known all along… and that's why she stuck with you. She loves you, Naruto."

Mizuki then started to laugh, feeding Naruto false words again, "Don't make me laugh! Iruka has hated you since you killed his parents. He just wants to get that scroll back. And Kagome? She never loved you! You were always just a pain in her side that held her back!"

"No, Naruto… that's not true. Kagome really does love you. It's not a part of her to hate for something that had happened in the past… especially a past she has no knowledge of… or even hate you for something you never did…"

The Chuunin who lied to Naruto then started to chuckle while saying in a sickly thoughtful manner, "My… if I had known that Kagome-chan cared about Naruto that much, I guess I _shouldn't_ have blown her up. She's probably on her deathbed as we speak, dying while feebly clinging to life, suffering from severe burns she received from the blast on her apartment." This made the young blond freeze in shock before high tailed it, gaining some distance away from the two adults.

His sensei's voice echoed in the forest, calling his name. But Naruto didn't care… his closest and only friend was dying… and all because of the hatred the village felt toward him. If he had known any of this would happen, he would've tried distancing himself from Kagome to prevent harm from coming to her.

After the exchange between Mizuki and Iruka, the former went after Naruto but not before promising to take care of Iruka later.

When Mizuki disappeared, Kagome arrived to see Iruka injured and bleeding. As her feet touched the ground almost softly, she called out running to her sensei, "Iruka-senei!"

The said Chuunin turned his head toward the voice sharply, shocked to see that his raven-haired student was okay and seemingly unharmed aside from the bandages on her arms.

"Kagome… you're okay…" he said almost breathlessly as Kagome dropped to her knees at his side. The Chuunin teacher was so relieved to see that one of his students was alive and well.

"But from the looks of it, you're not. Who did this to you? If you say that Naruto did…" Kagome spoke as she brought out some old but clean cloths that she kept in her pouch and started to use First Aid for the wound on Iruka's leg.

Iruka winced as Kagome tied the cloth around his leg tight enough to stop the bleeding before answering her question, "No, Naruto didn't do this. It was Mizuki… he had lied to and tricked Naruto into stealing the Scoll of Sealing from the Hokage so he could take it and kill Naruto in the process. Mizuki even told him something that was forbidden… he told Naruto the real reason why everyone in the village hated him so much."

"Having to do with the demon energy that resides alongside his actual chakra?" Iruka turned a surprised gaze to his student's wide blue eyes, wondering how Kagome knew about Naruto being the Kyuubi's vessel, even though she was never told of what had happened twelve years ago, even before she came to their village.

As he was about to ask her how she knew this, Kagome cut him off helping him up as she asked, "Which way do they go?" She wanted to hunt down Mizuki for not only destroying her home, but for also hurting her sensei and her brother-like friend. The screwed up Chuunin was going to pay dearly for feeding lies to Naruto.

She knew that she didn't compete against a chuunin of Mizuki's caliber but she sure as hell can be fast than him if he pissed her off enough. Not to mention her anger fuels her punches and kicks as well, something she had found out after Naruto had put puke green hair dye in her shampoo once. After finding out what he had done, she unconsciously gathered her energy into her fists and legs.

The hyper blond was put in the hospital for five days for being comatose due to the pain he went through. Yeah, Kagome was just that strong and frightening when angry, especially with the training she received in the academy.

Iruka pointed to which way before telling her that he had a plan in mind that will be able to fool Mizuki and protect Naruto…

XoXoXoXoXoXoXo

And Iruka's plan did work.

After finding Naruto, Kagome had him hide with her not too far from where Iruka had given Mizuki a blow to the punch. It seemed that the white haired Chuunin tried to disguise himself as Iruka in order to try and trick Naruto into giving him the scroll of sealing. But Iruka had tricked him by transforming into Naruto and transforming a log into a copy of the Scroll of Sealing.

It was Kagome's job to stay close to Naruto and protect the scroll with him so that Mizuki wouldn't get his hands on it. Imagine the blond boy's surprise to see her looking good and well despite the throbbing pain she felt in her arms from the burns she received. But she didn't let the discomfort of her injuries show.

Right now, the situation with Mizuki and the Scroll were more important than the burns on her arms.

When the two Chuunins showed their true identities, an argument started about whom Naruto was like.

At first, Naruto almost believed that Iruka really did hate him after he heard him agreed with Mizuki about how Naruto wouldn't pass up the chance to use the scroll but was proven wrong when Iruka pointed out that Mizuki would be right…

"_If_ Naruto was the Kyuubi. But he's different. He's… an excellent student that I recognize. He's hardworking, earnest, clumsy, and no one recognized him… except Kagome-chan. Those two know the pain of others. Naruto is not the Kyuubi. He's Uzumaki Naruto of Konoha."

Mizuki was about to deal the final blow that would most surely kill Iruka but was stopped when both Kagome and Naruto gave simultaneous blow to the Chuunin. The both of them served a knee bash to Mizuki's chin, making him skid back a bit away from Iruka. The huge shuriken flew off, cutting a few branches above as Iruka gasped at the site of Kagome and Naruto protecting him.

The two threatened to kill Mizuki if he dared to lay a finger on Iruka.

The white haired Chuunin was taken aback that Kagome was still alive and hardly looked injured at all.

'How could she have survived that trap?! It should've been enough to send her to the hospital hanging on by a thread!' these were the enraged thoughts that flowed through Mizuki's head, his teeth clenched together in how almost nothing seemed to be going as he planned.

As Mizuki was boasting that he could finish kids like them off no problem, Naruto gave the silent message to Kagome, telling her to protect Iruka while he took care of Mizuki. But Kagome disagreed, telling him that she owed Mizuki some licks for trashing her apartment. Drawing out two Kunai, the miko-nin went into a stance she remembered from her old training with Sesshoumaru before battling Naraku.

Naruto then performed the "_Kage Bunshin no Jutsu_", surprising not only Kagome and Iruka, but scaring Mizuki enough that he was losing his cool and looked about ready to piss himself.

Kagome's light haired friend, who was the worst when trying to create simple replicas, was able to now create real live copies of his self. The Miko-nin was very proud of Naruto, even more so with the thousands he was able to create.

Iruka was feeling the same way.

The Miko-nin grinned, twirling the kunai in her hands in a deadly manner. Oh, yeah she was really looking forward to putting in a few shots at Mizuki for all the crap he put her, Naruto, and Iruka through.

It was at Kagome's grin as well as the amounts of Shadow Copies that made Mizuki shiver in fright, especially when the look in Kagome's eyes was very similar to veteran fighter- eyes that had seen bloodshed and revealed that she could be much crueler than he without using lies or tricks.

And when Mizuki was down for the count, slightly bloodied and battered after Naruto's clones punched and kicked in various places and Kagome kicked and cut him, Naruto and Kagome grinned at their sensei, "Maybe we hurt him too much."

Kagome grinned back, putting away her kunai, "Nah! He got what he deserved."

Naruto looked down at the badly battered and cut Chuunin, he turned to Kagome curiously and asked, "Do you think he's gonna need some stitches?"

"Heh, yeah a LOT of stitches." Kagome grunted that last part as she firmly kicked Mizuki's shoulder where it was not only badly cut but was dislocated when a couple of Naruto's clones threw him around be the arm.

The both of them then turned to Iruka, asking if he was okay. Sure, Kagome gave first aid to the wound on his leg but she never had the chance with the wound on his back, which was most likely still bleeding but not as bad as before. The action made Mizuki helplessly moan in pain.

'Good. Now maybe he'll learn that instant Karma is a bitch.' Kagome thought as her mental chibi self grew horns and start cackling like a little devil.

Iruka chuckled at Kagome's words and her actions while Naruto grinned. Their sensei then asked Naruto to come up to him, saying that he wanted to give the kitsune boy something.

Kagome and Naruto looked at each other curiously before walking up to him.

XoXoXoXoXoXoXo

The sun started to rise for the coming morning setting a nice glow to the surrounding forest. Naruto had his eyes closed; a request by Iruka so that what the Chuunin teacher was going to give Naruto would be a surprise.

Iruka took Naruto's goggles off before untying his _hitei-ate_ and tying it around Naruto's crown in the same fashion Kagome's was tied.

Once Iruka gave Naruto his permission to open his eyes, the blond ninja opened them to see the smiling faces of Kagome and their teacher as Iruka held his old goggles in one hand.

"Congratulations, Naruto… you graduate." Iruka stated as Kagome voiced how proud she was of Naruto, wrapping her arms around the frozen blonde's neck and bringing him into a hug.

The said boy was so speechless as Iruka said that to celebrate, the three of them were eating Ramen tonight. Kagome soon noticed Naruto's lips twitching, like he was stopping himself from saying or yelling something. Once Iruka noticed, Naruto threw his arms around his teacher, happy that he was finally able to become a Ninja.

Not able to hold back, Kagome joined in on the hug, but mindful of Iruka's injuries, unlike Naruto.

A bit shorter than the last chapter but I still hope you guys enjoy. This chapter had been revised due to complaints about the previous Chapter 2 not being 'detailed' enough.

This chapter was dedicated to Two Tailed Demon Cat, as a little something before she starts school.

Now… PLEASE review. Adding this fic to your alerts and/or Favorites list isn't going to be enough to make me update this. Suggestions and ideas are welcome… also word about the pairings in the Author Note at the beginning of this chapter. And lastly, Flamers with their flames are not welcome, they can hit the road for all I care.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Inuyasha. They belong to their rightful creators and distributors. But if I did own Naruto, I wouldn't have put in so many filler episodes that don't seem to make any sense. I also don't own any songs that may appear in this fic. They belong to their rightful artists.

AN: (Old Note had been erased for personal and misguided/misunderstood circumstances)

_**Chapter Three**_

A frown was on Kagome's face as she glanced at Naruto with her arms crossed over her chest and Kirara sitting on her shoulder. The said blonde was giving lame excuses and helplessly apologizing for something that he didn't think his friend would mind. But the girl wouldn't let up in her frown that clearly showed him that she was still ticked at him.

What did Naruto do to make Kagome mad at him?

Well… it started the day after Kagome came to her temporary home (Naruto's apartment, even though Ino offered to let her stay with the Yamanakas) from the hospital after the medics changed the bandages on her arms. While making supper for them with what little cooking utensils Naruto had, Naruto started talking about how his day went after taking his ID photo for his Shinobi profile.

He told her about the Sandaime's grandson, Konohamaru who always tried to beat the old man but ends up tripping on his own feet and such (while thinking the old man did some sort of jutsu). Naruto told her about the boy following him and asking him to teach him the _Oiroke no Jutsu_ because it was able to defeat the Hokage.

After Naruto told the events leading up to beating Ebisu by a nosebleed caused by Naruto's _Harem no Jutsu_, Kagome's body went rigid at hearing Naruto successfully teach a kid Konohamaru's age the _Oiroke no Jutsu_, especially without her permission.

SHE was the one who taught him how to use the _Henge no Jutsu_ to see what he would look like when he gets older and as a female! She even helped INSPIRE Naruto to create the _Oiroke no Jutsu_.

So yeah, even to the next day when they were on their way to the Explanatory Meeting for when they get assigned to their Genin teams, Kagome was still a bit ticked that Naruto taught younger kid the an explicit Jutsu.

"Come on, Kagome. I said I was sorry. I really didn't think you would mind me teaching Konohamaru that technique, really!" Naruto said, trying to get Kagome to forgive him. He honestly, really didn't think she would mind. But then again, knowing the raven-haired girl, she would have minded because he taught a kid who was not only directly related to the Hokage but was a kid who wasn't yet attending the Academy- a few years younger than himself. "Besides, he probably won't use the jutsu much unless he wants to get away from The Closet Pervert."

(Closet Pervert is what Naruto immediately started calling Ebisu XP)

Kagome raised a brow at him, hoping beyond hope that he was right and voiced her opinion about that comment. "You better be right, Naruto or else it's gonna be my sandal up your ass with hitting the scrolls on some VERY difficult Jutsus."

The blond spiky haired boy gulped, knowing full well that Kagome meant every word she said before nodding his head.

As they continued their way to the academy with Kagome's mood lightening up a bit, the two noticed someone trying to camouflage themselves with the fence but were doing a horrible job by covering themselves with a cloth that was a bit different. The lines that made the fence pattern were horizontal while the actual lines of the fence were vertical.

The boy who Naruto taught the _Oiroke no Justu_, Konohamaru then jumped out, challenging Naruto to a fight. Kagome winced when the poor boy ended up tripping on the camouflage he was using and fell flat on his face.

'And most had called Naruto and me clumsy at times…' she thought with a sweatdrop as Naruto asked the younger boy, "What are you doing, Konohamaru?"

"I expected nothing less from the man I respect." Konohamaru said as he picked himself up from the ground.

A paused passed between the three of them while Konohamaru looked to Kagome curiously before Kagome pointed out, "… but he didn't do anything." Kirara made a mew of agreement.

Despite the younger boy's curiosity about the girl who was walking with his friend/rival, Konohamaru demanded Naruto to fight him fair and square. But Naruto declined while saying that he and Kagome had to go to an Explanatory Meeting.

At Konohamaru's expression, Naruto pointed to his and Kagome's _hitei-ates_, saying, "we're ninjas starting today."

The younger boy's eyes widened slightly in surprise before the two new Genin continued their way while hoping to see Konohamaru around after the meeting was over.

XoXoXoXoXoXoXo

After walking into Iruka's classroom, Naruto took a seat while saving the one next to him as he waited for Kagome come from the bathroom. Kirara was sitting on the desk while the blond rested his head on his arms.

While it was true that Naruto didn't like cats, he really didn't mind Kirara for some reason. At first, when Kagome had introduced him to the two-tailed neko, he was a bit on edge because of his hate for cats. But as time passed with Kirara always cuddling to him every now and then, Naruto grew somewhat attached to the nekomatta especially when the said cat was so loyal to Kagome.

It was while Naruto was talking with Shikamaru that Kagome walked into the classroom from the bathroom. She smiled when she saw her friend and the Nara talking a bit but jumped in surprise when Ino and Sakura suddenly almost stampeded into the room. It looked as though the two friends turned Love Rivals had raced all the way to the classroom.

The two were bickering about who had made it into the room first while catching their breaths. Sakura kept making excuses about her foot being centimeters ahead of the light blond girl. Ino then noticed Kagome standing before them with a raised brow before asking, "hey Kagome, did you see who made it into the room first?"

Ino trusted Kagome enough to know that she wouldn't lie, even for her sake in trying to win against Sakura. She also asked for the raven-haired girl's answer because almost nothing could escape her sight, like the simplest flaws that could usually be overlooked.

Kagome relaxed a bit after hearing Ino's question and answered, "_Eto_… I think that was a draw, Ino-chi, since you both forced your selves into the door side by side."

As Ino looked like she accepted Kagome's answer, Sakura wasn't listening as she looked around to see where her 'beloved' Uchiha was sitting. Kagome noticed this and couldn't help but feel like a déjà vu from her old life with some fan girls that always went after Hojo. Not really wanting to go down memory lane that centered a bit on the boy who used to (and probably still) love her, Kagome went over to where Naruto was sitting.

Before she was about to sit with Naruto as the boy stood up to make room for her to get through, both Kagome and Naruto were roughly shoved aside by the pink-haired Haruno who started to act like a 'sweet' lovesick obsessive fan girl she was, asking Sasuke if she could sit next to him.

Both the miko-nin and Kyuubi vessel winced a bit from landing on the wide stairs that were set along the rows of desks, although Naruto took the majority of the blow because he lit Kagome fall on him. But her knees and the still raw burns on her arms she got from Mizuki's bomb still hit the hard surface of one of the steps.

Kirara, who was happy to see her mistress back, hissed at Sakura who pushed Kagome aside. But it didn't seem that the pink-haired girl noticed her until Sasuke started to smooth out her furr, making her give a content purr, enjoying the gentle strokes the young Uchiha made with surprisingly soft fingers.

Naruto helped her up a bit asking, "You okay, Kags?"

"Yeah, Naru. I just landed on my arms when I tried to brace the fall." Kagome answered with a soft smile as Naruto checked to see if her arms were bleeding through the bandages.

Naruto had heard and saw once that Kagome could unconsciously heal her injuries almost instantly but when the injury was severe like the burns she got or if it was a broken or twisted limb, the healing took a lot slower than either of them desired. Naruto wasn't that worried but he still felt a little guilty that he was the reason why she got hurt and her apartment got blown up.

As if reading his thoughts about him being the cause of her injuries, Kagome softly assured him that it wasn't his fault that she was burnt. The moment between them was soon interrupted because of the almost all the girls in the class started fighting over on who had the right to sit next to Sasuke.

When Naruto was sitting next to him, Sasuke knew that the _Dobe_ was saving a seat for Kagome. Not that he minded but Kagome was more tolerable to be with rather than the other girls in the village. He also appreciated how she always gave flowers to some of the houses in the Uchiha District and paying her respects to the dead, even though she never knew any of the clan before their demise at his brother's hand.

He once confronted her on why she pays her respects to a clan that she never met, only to be answered, "Whether it's a clan that I've never met or not… the dead should always be respected. Especially when their death was seemingly unexpected and makes them unable to pass on."

Sasuke had always pondered her words and soon became interested in her. Mostly it was because of the mature air that came from her and how, despite that she was average in power and skill, was very intelligent when it came to weaponry, creating effective techniques, and battle tactics.

Before Kagome knew it, Naruto's expression changed into one that showed he was pissed off as he jumped onto the desk he shared with Sasuke and started to glare at the black-haired, dark eyed boy. The two of them were about nose-to-nose glaring at each other.

This action caused the rest of the girls to get pissed that Naruto was even close to Sasuke. With all the yelling that was going on, Kagome sighed at she got up, wondering if any of the girls in her former life was like this about the most popular boy when they were in grade school.

She then frowned as she picked her self off the floor, 'Oh hell no! I think they were all shy like Hinata-chan with a few who were somewhat brave in trying to confess their feelings.' Kagome also knew that she was NEVER that boy crazy.

Her thoughts were cut short when the girls got strangely quiet. Confused, she turned to the two boys only to have her jaw drop in shock and in some sort of morbid awe from what she was seeing.

Somehow, during their glaring contest, one of the guys who sat in front of Naruto and Sasuke accidentally bumped into the blond on the desk; making the two bipolar opposites meet in a lip lock. After they pulled away from each other and tried to 'purify' their mouths, Kagome did her best to try and hold her guffaws to herself.

Seeing the two rivals unintentionally kiss and started spitting and choking like they were poison… Kagome couldn't help but find it hilarious, especially when Sakura looked like she was going to die from an enraged shock.

Her laughter was soon cut short when she noticed all the girls (excluding Hinata) started looking at Naruto like they wanted to beat him to a pulp all because he gave Sasuke his 'first kiss' and not them. When it looked like Sakura was about to give the first blow, Kagome jumped on the desk in front of the girl, making her pause when she drew her fist back.

"Get out of the way, Higurashi!" Sakura ordered, ready to let her punch fly even if she had to hit the raven-haired girl in the process. Even though Sakura respected Kagome on a certain level is didn't mean that she liked her… especially when there was word about Sasuke showing some interest in the girl in front of her. Because of this, Kagome was also her rival for Sasuke's attention, like Ino.

'_She thinks she's all that just because she acts more mature than most of the girls in the academy. I'll bet anything that she's trying to gain Sasuke-kun's attention by putting up that act. Well, she's not fooling me!' _Inner Sakura ranted with a growl.

"Let that fist of yours fly at me, Haruno and you'll be sure to get a really big bruise on that flat chest or wide forehead of yours." Kagome answered, her voice low and with her eyes turning cold enough to send shivers down most of the girls that had an inkling of common sense.

She never really approved of Sakura even though she knew that Naruto had a crush on the pink haired girl. Despite that she was sometimes smart, she was also loud, obsessive, and can be just downright stupid when it came to certain things. Not to mention that even though she acts like the perfect little girl who follows the rules, deep down she could be a real troublemaker herself if she wasn't such a wimp in worrying about what others may say.

Just as most of the guys and some of the girls were expecting a 'cat fight' to break out, Iruka came into the room telling everyone to get into their seats.

Like it was some sort of race, Sakura quickly made her way to the seat next to Sasuke… much to the said boy's displeasure as she squealed before giving a smug grin at Kagome and Ino.

Kirara who was about to make her way to Kagome, hissed at Sakura, making the girl wonder why the two-tailed cat seemed to not like her.

Kagome just rolled her eyes at her before sliding off the desk and looking around to see if there were any other free seats.

"Come on, Kagome. You can sit on my lap since there isn't any other seats." Naruto offered, sliding away from the desk to give room to let Kagome sit. This offer also made most of the guys (including Sasuke) glare at him for giving such an offer before any of them while mentally beating themselves for not offering Kagome a seat before the others.

After Kagome smiled and took Naruto's offer to sit on his lap, Iruka went to giving his speech that he always gave to new Genin from the academy, "Starting today, you are all official ninjas, but your are all still new Genin. From here on, it will get a lot harder for you while you will be grouped into three-man cells and accomplish missions under the guidance of a Jounin teacher. But because we have an uneven amount of students who had graduated, one group will have an extra member added to their team."

"Hmph, I wonder who will be grouped with Sasuke-kun…" Ino said with a confident smile. Deep down, she really wanted to be grouped with Sasuke. And she also wanted to be grouped with Kagome as well, wanting to have a girl that she could talk to.

Sakura's eyes furrowed as she answered, "I don't know." She then turned to her with a fierce look as her inner self started to get pumped up and confidant that she would surely be in Sasuke's team.

Sasuke made a soft sound of annoyance with his brow furrowed a bit thinking, 'groups of three or four… that's really gonna slow me down.' Then an afterthought came, 'Although, I wouldn't mind being with Kagome…' A part of the Uchiha hoped that he would be group with Kagome since she looked like he could work well with her.

Naruto was hoping that he could be with both Kagome and Sakura if he was in a three-man cell but really didn't care who else was grouped with him as long as it wasn't Sasuke.

Kagome was only half paying attention as she was playing with Kirara a little as Iruka continued, "We've arranged the groups so that overall abilities can be balanced out." He then started to announce them after seeing Kagome and Naruto hold each other's hands, hoping that they would be grouped together.

Some odd minutes later, Iruka started announcing the members of Team 7, "Uzumaki Naruto, Higurashi Kagome, Haruno Sakura…" at this, Kagome and Naruto threw their arms up in excitement as Sakura slumped in her seat, in disappointment. "And last… Uchiha Sasuke." The roles between Sakura and Naruto change with Kagome looking at Naruto like she didn't know what was so bad about being grouped with Sasuke.

To her, Sasuke didn't seem so bad… has a few issues about revenge and being an avenger of his clan…

'Okay, he's got a lot of issues concerning a lot of things connected to his clan but he's still not so bad… in some aspects.' Kagome thought with a sweatdrop as she glanced at the said boy, faintly hearing Ino asking angrily how Sakura got grouped with Sasuke. Although, she sorta felt sorry for her in being grouped with the smartest yet laziest guy in the class and…

'I have no idea what to label Chouji as without sounding insulting…' she took a quick glance toward the boy as he ate his bag of potato chips.

After Iruka finished calling out the rest of the teams, Naruto abruptly stood forgetting that Kagome was sitting in his lap and he yelled in a fit, "Iruka-sensei! Why is a top-student like me in a group with this guy?!" His friend who was sitting in his lap… she nearly fell off before making a face, wishing that Naruto wouldn't make such a big deal about the grouping.

"Sasuke graduated with the highest scores." Iruka pointed out before resting his hands on his hips and stared straight at the hyperactive boy before he continued, "You, Naruto, had the lowest scores." The class then started to laugh, finding Naruto's situation funny. "This happens because we want to evenly divide abilities between the groups."

When it looked like Naruto was going to say more, Kagome intervened, "Naruto!" The boy turned to her as she continued, "Lie down before you hurt yourself."

"What's that suppose to mean?" Naruto asked confused. Kagome always used sayings that sounded cool but at the same time they were just confusing as hell.

"She means to sit down before you further embarrass your self… _Dobe_." Sasuke clarified with the 'dead-last' insult.

Halfway through the one-sided bickering, Kagome beat Sakura by lightly flicked Naruto in the nose, reminding, "Quite taking the bait, Naruto. That's how you usually end up losing fights."

Rubbing his 'abused' nose, Naruto quieted knowing that Kagome was right. His raven-haired friend always seemed to hold information about fighting and how to win without giving your opponent the upper hand. But then again, she did say the she had a harsh but good teacher who was a perfectionist.

(-cough- Sesshoumaru -cough-)

Not wanting her to give Kirara the order to attack him, he just sat down with a pout.

After the laughing and bickering calmed down, Iruka announced that he would announce their jounin teachers in the afternoon after lunch, but until then they were free to leave.

XoXoXoXoXoXoXo

About halfway into lunch, Kagome started to relax a bit while giving Kirara a good scratch behind the ears as she got more comfortable on the tree branch she and Kirara shared lunch on.

When they were released to go eat lunch before they had to return to meet their Jounin teacher, Naruto told Kagome to go on ahead of him because he wanted to try and eat with Sakura since she was in the same team with them.

After that, Kagome didn't know where Naruto went off. She could feel the Kyuubi's contained aura on the school grounds so she knew Naruto was still around.

'Most likely bummed that Sakura wanted to eat with Sasuke rather than him…' she thought as she stared at the said girl in red who was sitting alone, finishing up her lunch. Kagome guessed that she was most likely disappointed that wasn't able to eat with Sasuke. But Sakura reassured herself that she was going to be on Sasuke's team for quite some time.

Sakura sigh, resting her chin in her hands as she thought with more disappointment she was feeling, 'Even if I wanted to seduce Sasuke-kun, the proportions of my body are below average. The only thing that's above average is the width of my forehead.'

Kagome rolled her eyes at how Sakura was acting but really couldn't blame her for feeling some lack of confidence in her looks. She too, in her former life, felt that too when she was twelve, thirteen years old the first time. And she soon felt that again after meeting Inuyasha whenever he would start comparing her to Kikyo while saying his beloved corpse was better looking than she.

And soft but unlady-like snort, not wanting to dwell on unwanted memories of the hanyou. Sure, she was his friend and he was her first love, but most of her teen years were spent listening to so much trash coming from his mouth.

The miko's thoughts were cut short when she felt Naruto's presence below her. But when she looked down... she had to raise a brow, wondering why Naruto transformed into Sasuke.

'Probably to make it easier to approach Sakura…' seeing that this was most likely gonna turn into some sort of 'drama-filled' episode, Kagome tuned out their voices before lying back to take a light snooze of sorts, especially after Naruto gave a corny sounding line about Sakura's forehead being so wide and charming enough for him to kiss it.

She internally laughed at that as she closed her eyes, relaxing completely. But even that was interrupted when she faintly heard something that sound like a stomach growl… or something that came from a stomach.

Kagome looked down at them and sweatdropped when she saw Sakura puckering her lips for a kiss and Naruto, in the form of Sasuke, comically looked like he was in pain and clutching his stomach. As quickly as he could, Naruto got up and left, leaving Sakura on the bench.

"What's wrong?" Sakura asked, watching 'Sasuke' take off.

The way Naruto's voice sounded when in Sasuke's form sounded hilarious to Kagome's ears when he said that he would be right back. So much that she had to slap her hands over her mouth to stop her laughter from escaping and making her presence known to Sakura. Even Kirara was shaking with her own cat-like laughs.

"I didn't know that Sasuke was so shy… I wonder if he needs to settle his feelings…"

Not able to take anymore, Kagome sat Kirara on her shoulder and quickly, yet as stealthily as she could, left her tree to somewhere she could let her laughter out.

In the back of her mind, she vaguely wondered why Naruto acted the way he did. Suddenly remembering something from that morning, Kagome almost fell from the tree she was about to land in. 'Crap! I can't believe I forgot to throw that out last night!'

XoXoXoXoXoXoXo

Meanwhile, the real Sasuke met up with Sakura during his search fro Naruto. At first he went to look for Kagome since she usually knew where the blond was at but decided against it because she would probably ask why he was looking for him. Not wanting to answer any of those kinds of questions, considering how protective she was of Naruto, Sasuke decided to look for the _dobe_ on his own.

When he asked Sakura, all he got was, "Changing the subject again? Forget about Naruto. Even though he's most likely with Higurashi. All Naruto does is pick quarrels with you while Higurashi tries in vein to stop him." Sasuke then heard her start ranting off in a lecture/scolding 'adult' mode as she continued, "It's probably because the two of them had such irregular childhoods. Oh yeah, you know how they don't have any parents, right?"

Sasuke gave a leer that went unnoticed by the pink-haired kunoichi. "Naruto is always doing selfish things and Higurashi usually goes and does the most stupidest things, like what she had did the day before the final exam. My parents would scold at me if I did such things." As Sakura continued to rant, Sasuke narrowed his eyes at her as if disgusted that she didn't understand anything about Naruto or Kagome.

After Sakura stopped, Sasuke spoke, "The solitude… you can't even compare it to the level of where your parents get mad at you."

Sakura was confused as to what Sasuke was talking about and really felt a part of her get crushed when Sasuke told her that she was annoying before he left to continue his search for Naruto.

XoXoXoXoXoXoXo

While all of the drama was going on at the academy, the Sandaime Hokage was showing Kakashi around Naruto's apartment. It was only natural that the Jounin teacher knew where his students live as to get a feel of the environment they came from.

Kakashi looked around. "So this is Naruto's home…"

"Yes. It's also temporarily Kagome's until her own apartment gets refurnished from the Mizuki incident. She's another one of the team members you'll be teaching long with Sasuke, from the Uchiha clan. I wish you luck in testing them tomorrow." The Hokage answered before the masked Jounin picked up an almost empty milk carton from the table.

He was silent for a moment when he read the expiration date, saying that it had expired a while ago. Shaking it a bit, he continued, "He's going to get a stomachache if he drinks this…"

The Hokage just chuckled a bit. "After moving in with Naruto, Kagome took up most of the house chores. The cleaning she never worried about but the cooking and keeping food in stock became essential because she didn't really want Naruto to be eating nothing but Ramen for all his meals."

"Taking the role as his guardian of sorts?"

"More like the role of an older sibling than anything else." The Hokage then looked toward a picture of the two friends from when they were ten that was hung on the wall. "It could be because she matured much faster than those her age. Iruka told me after watching and testing her closely that Kagome's maturity could equal that of a young adult's."

Curious, Kakashi asked as he went to the kitchen to dump the milk, "How old does he think she mentally is?"

"Maybe a young woman somewhere in her late teens or early twenties… Iruka's not quiet sure because her behavior changes. One minute she could be acting her age, the next she could act like a mature intelligent adult or a veteran fighter from a war. Iruka says that it really depends on her situation, whether she's in a fight, speaking her thoughts about a certain subject, or she's just with Naruto." The Hokage turned to Kakashi, "She just maybe the most sensible and observant of the bunch so it may be best to not take her lightly."

'Interesting…' Kakashi thought as he took a glance at the picture the Hokage was looking at. He remembered Kagome's face from when he first found her outside the village during his old days as an ANBU member. She had looked so small, confused, and alone as she held her two-tailed cat in her arms. During the years she had been in the village, he watched over her when he was home from missions to at least make sure that she would be okay. It was until she made friends with Naruto that he watched over her less and less.

He vaguely wondered if she would remember him from all those years ago but shrugged thinking that it really didn't matter. As long as she was taking care of herself just fine, that was all that mattered.

What he really needed to prepare for was getting to meet the new Genin team he was assigned to teach.

Probably a bit shorter than the last chapter, even if it was revised, but I'm gonna start the next chapter when Team 7 finally meets Kakashi.

This chapter has been dedicated to two of my favorite authors who are also good friends of mine, DeathNoteMaker after she finally updated her Saiyuki/IY Xover, and for punkish furball after updating her Death Note/IY Xover.

Because I feel I can't keep up with the polls, they will be canceled.

Please leave a review, they're most appreciated. Suggestions and ideas are welcome while Flamers with their flames can jump off a cliff for all I care.

And now, it's late. I'm tired and it's a little chilly. Hope you enjoyed the chapter and the slight revising of Chapter 2.

For some of my loyal readers who have read my Vampire Hunter D/IY fic… I might update that fic in the near future. I got some inspiration after buying volume 9 of the novel series since I couldn't find volume 2 of the manga series.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or Naruto. They belong to their rightful creators and distributors. Same with songs that may be added to the fic.

AN: To my most heartfelt thanks, this chapter will be dedicated to both mystical spirits and RainLily13 and any others who were probably mad at me for my last author note, which was written out of misunderstanding and me jumping to conclusions. I really was being a bitch when mystical spirits and RainLily13 just really only wanted to help me improve my writing.

But I had received their forgiveness and I had never felt so better.

I hope that in forgiveness that you two enjoy this next chapter.

_**Chapter Four**_

The joints in her shoulders popped as Kagome stretched after waiting for who knows how long with her new team. It had been a couple of hours since their other graduated classmates left with their Jounin teachers and Iruka had already left. Now Kagome, Kirara, Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke were sitting around the classroom, waiting for their Jounin who was extremely late, making Naruto really irritable and impatient.

The blond of her group was looking out in the hallway, seeing if their new sensei was coming as Sasuke was sitting at the desk closest to the door with Kirara taking a light catnap on the same surface of the desk and Sakura was leaning against the second desk of the first row. Kagome her self was sitting on the rise at the front of the class, almost falling asleep and doing her best not to fidget to show that she was getting impatient herself, like Naruto.

Because of all the moving around during the Sengoku, in her former life, Kagome got used to moving around all the time from place to place. So she tended to get restless when sitting in one spot for too long unless she was given something to do. With a slight frown, she soon got up and went to the bookshelf to get something to read… or something the keep her brain busy while they continued to wait for their Jounin sensei.

Finding something interesting, she took it off the shelf and made her way back to her spot as Sakura told Naruto to sit down and be still.

Kagome mentally snorted, 'Good luck in trying to make him do so…' before continuing to read the book she got. A Kitsune vessel, like Naruto, gains certain traits from the demon he contains. Including the trait of not being able to sit still when restless and bored, much like Shippó when he was bored and needed something to do rather than sit and do nothing.

Naruto was like a blond, blue-eyed, human version of Shippó with a lot of energy to spend so, knowing from experience from taking care of Shippó, found it best to just let the Uzumaki boy do what he wanted and let him spend that exptra energy.

"But why is the sensei for our team the only one late to meet us? Everyone else left with their new senseis and even Iruka-sensei is gone." Naruto spoke from his place at the door. He wanted to know why they were the only one not with their sensei and he was feeling restless just by staying cooped up in the classroom just waiting.

Sakura had to agree that she was getting impatient too, but was doing her best to relax and be patient like Sasuke. Her brows furrowed, pointing out, "That's not really important."

Kagome raised a brow toward her before going back to her reading, thinking, 'right… you're just as impatient as the rest of us.'

A nose soon caught her and Sakura's attention toward the door as Naruto put up a chair close to the door before stepping up and setting an eraser in the crack of the said door, so that when whoever opened it would get hit by the eraser. It was a beginner's booby trap with a slim chance of a jounin falling for it.

The miko-nin shook her head slightly, not bothering to try and scold Naruto for setting the trap up as Sakura came up to him, asking (demanding) what he was doing. Her demanding voice woke the neko-matta before stretching and moving toward her mistress after jumping off the desk.

In Kagome's eyes, boys will be boys and you can't really stop them from doing what they wanted.

Naruto just grinned before jumping off the chair, saying, "That's what he gets for being late."

"It's going to be your fault if you get in trouble." Sakura scolded, but Kagome could tell she was just itching to see the look on the Jounin's face if he or she falls for the trap while Sasuke felt it was a waste of time in trying to trick an elite ninja.

The black-haired brooding boy even voiced this while Naruto didn't listen.

With a sigh, Kagome spoke, not lifting her eyes from what she was reading as Kirara decided to hop onto her shoulder, "Let him be guys. Boys will be boys. Not much you can do when they set their minds on something." She then lifted her face up in a thoughtful manner before continuing, "Although… this could effect the sensei's first impression on us."

"What do you mean, Kagome?" Naruto asked, having a feeling that what she may say would be important so decided to stay quiet and listen.

The dark haired girl turned to him and replied, "You've heard how first impressions are always important, right? Well… by pulling off a stunt like the trap you put in the door, you may as well be giving us a one-way ticket to hell." At Naruto's still curious face, she continued with clarity, "Meaning, the Jounin holds all of our futures in his hands and has the authority to either like us and be nice about our training or hate us and make our training under him hell on earth. Or even worse… force us to quit being ninja."

Sasuke and Sakura noted that Kagome did make a point. The jounin who was to be their teacher from this day on had the authority to do what he wished with their future as shinobi, even go so far as to make them quit. At this, Naruto started to get a cold sweat and started to think twice about the booby trap. As he was about to go take the eraser down, their Jounin teacher walked in… fell for the trap.

Everyone was silent before Naruto couldn't help but laugh that a jounin fell for such a trap, completely forgetting the dread he felt about Kagome's explanation.

The said miko-nin, like Kirara, was just too speechless to say anything while she was slightly curious about the way the Jounin's hair looked. Grey, almost silver while it looked like it was gravity defiant…

'Strange… could he be…?' she thought, wondering if this was the shinobi who found her outside Konoha when she arrived as a child in this world.

Sakura, acting like the obedient girl she was, spoke with apology, "Gomen nasai, sensei! I tried to stop him but Naruto-kun wouldn't listen to me…" although, Inner Sakura was dancing around with thumbs up, saying, _"YES! Awesome shot!" _

Kagome shot her a look that just said 'Yeah right', thinking, 'Please, you didn't even try to do anything to stop him.'

Sasuke had a frown on his face while still in his brooding posture, wondering it this Jounin was really a Jounin at all.

After everyone quieted down, Kakashi completely walked into the classroom and picked up the eraser that had hit him while Kagome went to put up the book she was reading. Once she had taken her place with the group, Kagome and the others waited for Kakashi's thoughts about what he thought of them.

Moments after staring at the eraser, Kakashi's posture changed, making him look like he was thinking while saying, "Hmm… how should I say this… my first impression on you guys is…" he then looked at them, "I hate you." Making their faces fault. Kagome was the first to recover before she flicked Naruto's nose like she did earlier that day, almost hissing to him "One-way ticket to hell."

Kakashi then gave them the order to meet him on the roof of the school before disappearing in a puff of smoke, leaving Team 7 to take the stairs.

After making it to the roof, Kakashi was sitting on the railing as his team took his or her seats on the steps. Sakura was sitting on the second step next to Sasuke, who sat on the top step. On the opposite side of Sasuke, Kagome sat with Naruto sitting in front of her between her legs and her head resting on his shoulder and Kirara sitting on the raven-haired girl's head.

At first glance, if Kakashi didn't know any better, he would've thought that Kagome and Naruto were related because of their blue eyes. Shaking his head, unnoticeably, and suggested to his Genin team, "Why don't we start by introducing ourselves?"

"But what should we say?" Sakura asked.

"Talk about… things you like… things you hate… dreams, hobbies… things like that." Kakashi suggested before Naruto asked him to introduce himself first.

The Jounin then pointed at himself before replying, "Me? I'm Hatake Kakashi. I have no intention of telling you my likes and dislikes." This gained some confused looks, as well as a raised brow from Kagome, before he continued casually, "As for my dreams…" a pregnant pause carried before he finished with a thoughtful look, "I have a few hobbies."

Kagome gave a soft chuckle as Sakura said as looked to Naruto, "All we found out from him was his name." The blond boy nodded in agreement.

"Now, it's your turn." Kakashi then looked to Naruto, asking him to go first.

Naruto did so with excitement, saying, "Uzumaki Naruto. I like cup ramen. But I really like the ramen at Ichiraku that Iruka-sensei buys for me and hanging out with Kagome-chan, along with whenever she helps me to better improve my skills and I can better understand some things." This made Kagome smile as he continued, "I hate the three minutes that I have to wait after I put the hot water on. My hobby is to eat and compare cup ramen flavors. And my dream is to become greater than the Hokages! So that I can make all the villagers recognize my existence!"

'I see… he grew up in an interesting way.' Kakashi thought as he saw the interaction with Naruto and Kagome with the raven-haired girl wrapping her arms around the former's neck and the cat on her head moved to sit on Naruto's lap. His sights then switched over to Sakura, asking her to go next.

With a 'cute' grin, Sakura began, "My name is Hurano Sakura. I like… well the person I like is…" she then started to bashfully make glances at Sasuke who looked like he could care less and wasn't really listening. "And my hobby is…"

'Stalking Sasuke whenever chance I get…' Kagome thought, disguising her laugh as a cough so she wouldn't hear Sakura make a fit but she really couldn't stop the grin on her face as Naruto glanced at her with a raised brow, knowing that she probably thought of something funny.

"And my dream is to…" at the pink-haired girl's fan-girl squeal, Kagome thought dramatically in a cutesy mental tone, 'My dream is to marry my beloved Sasuke-kun and become his bride.'

Kakashi just ignored the squealing she made and asked her with what looked like a bored expression, "And? What do you hate?"

With a mood swing quicker than a becoming mother and with vigor, Sakura answered, "Naruto and Higurashi!"

While Naruto was both shocked and hurt, Kagome just rolled her eyes before patting Naruto on the head, wordlessly telling him through the action that everything was be okay.

The grey-haired Jounin just sighed as he mentally deducted, 'Most girls Sakura's age are more interested in boys than in Shinobi training…' his sights then moved to Sasuke and gave him the go ahead to introduce himself as Sakura looked to him excitedly.

"Uchiha Sasuke. There are many things that I hate, and there aren't a lot of things that I like. Of course… there's one thing I'm interested in." The black-haired boy made a subtle glance toward Kagome that didn't go unnoticed by Kakashi before he continued, "but I do have an ambition that I have no intention to leave as just a dream." As he said this, his look grew dark and hateful but also determined, "the revival of my clan and… to kill a certain man."

Everyone was silent, aside from the birds that chirped, caught up in his or her thoughts about what the young Uchiha said.

'Okay… I was very wrong. He's hell-bent and out for blood… with a LOT of issues.' Kagome thought, slightly tense and guarded as she looked at Sasuke from the corner of her eye and Naruto felt a cold chill run through him, hoping that Sasuke wasn't referring to him. Sakura… well, after hearing that, I think you can guess her thoughts.

Kakashi's brow furrowed, his thoughts and theories confirmed about Sasuke's desire and out for blood of one individual.

After the uneasiness cleared away, Kakashi turned to Kagome, "Last, how about you?"

Kagome turned her blue eyes to Kakashi almost confusedly before answering, "Oh! Yeah… Higurashi Kagome. And in Naruto's lap is my animal familiar, Kirara. There are a lot of things I like. Too long of a list to name but hanging out with Naruto and polishing my skills as best I can is a couple. The few things I dislike are…" Kagome paused for a moment, "… obsessive stalking fan girls, guys who think revenge is all that matters, spiders, worms, and times when Naruto doesn't learn to never play a prank on me that involves dying my hair or scaring the crap out of me." At this, Naruto laughed sheepishly before wincing when Kagome pinched his cheek.

"Well… do you have any dreams? Hobbies?" Kakashi asked, actually pretty curious about his fourth member.

Kagome looked thoughtful for a moment after releasing Naruto's cheek from her grasp before replying, "Hobbies… there's art, reading up on Jutsus and other subjects, and train with Naruto and Kirara. As for dreams… I don't know… I guess help Naruto realize his own… and do what I can to protect the village."

'Hell, my true dream is to get my REAL body back somehow!' Kagome internally whined, her chibi self almost to the brink of tears.

The Jounin had a feeling that Kagome would be unsure about her dreams, but her answer was good enough since he was told that the young girl never had a desire to be a ninja in the beginning when she was first enrolled into the academy but gradually started to get interested.

He then announced, "Alright, you four all have unique personalities. I like that. Starting tomorrow, we'll begin a mission."

Naruto made an enthusiastic salute, asking excitedly, "Yes, sir! What kind of mission is it?"

"First, we're going to do something that the five of us can do." Kakashi said, gaining excited askance from Naruto and curious eyes from the others before he answered them, "Survival Training."

Kagome and Sakura raised curious brows as Naruto squinted his eyes in confusion. Sakura then asked, "Why are we going to train when it's a mission?" She then pointed out, stating the obvious; "We had plenty of training at the academy."

"It's no ordinary training, is it?" Kagome asked as she stared straight into Kakashi's eyes from her place as she petted Kirara's fur when the Neko-matta switched places again and started to relax on her shoulder.

"You're right. It's not." Kakashi had a strange undertone that sounded sneaky, making Kagome wonder what he was planning for them.

Naruto broke the silence that seemed almost take effect by asking, "Then, what kind of training is it?"

Kakashi's shoulders started to shake as he gave a hearty chuckle that sounded… strangely nice to Kagome's ears, almost making her blush at the thought before Sakura asked, "Hey, what's so funny, sensei?"

The Jounin answered with a chuckle and smile in his voice, "Well, if I say this, I'm sure you four are going to be surprised." To answer Naruto's curious sound, Kakashi continued with an almost dark and serious look while he rested his hand against the right side of his face, "Out of the twenty-eight graduates, only nine to ten are going to become Genin. The rest will just be sent back to the academy. In other words, this training is going to be a very hard test with the dropout rate of 66 percent."

Various surprised looks made their way to the Genins' faces, except for Kagome who just gave a bit of an interested look before Kakashi said that he told them they would be surprised.

Naruto was the first to recover before yelling almost outraged, "No way! I went through hell to graduate… then what was the final exam for?!"

"That? That was just to pick out who were qualified to become Genin."

"WHAT?!"

Kagome thought about this and felt that it was logical. Much like how a Shogun picks out his most skilled warriors for battle… 'I think that sounds right…'

"Anyways, I'm going to determine whether you pass or fail this test at the training grounds tomorrow. Bring all necessary ninja equipment and arrive at 5am!" Kagome's widened when Kakashi announced the time to meet. The miko-nin didn't do well when it came to rising before the sun.

She can rise WITH it but not BEFORE it. It was one of her habits she gained from traveling with a slave driving hanyou who was always too impatient for his own good. The look on her face didn't go unnoticed by Kakashi as he gauged everyone else's reaction to what was just said. The mentally younger soon held looks of determination before Kakashi dismissed them.

But he stopped them while giving them a bit of a forewarning, "Oh, yeah! And don't eat any breakfast… unless you want to puke it up."

'YOU GOTTA BE KIDDING ME!' Kagome thought while the others gained a sense of dread.

XoXoXoXoXoXoXo

Snoring could be heard as Naruto continued to sleep and Kagome stayed up a little longer, thinking about why Kakashi seemed familiar to her… what he was planning to do with this training test of his. One thing was certain though…

She sure as hell wasn't going to miss breakfast and try working while low on fuel. Also… she might not even arrive at the exact appointed time they were supposed to meet, if Kakashi, earlier today, coming to meet them late was any indication… then he most likely might be late to meet them tomorrow morning. If not… well, she'll accept any punishment he might have in mind for her being late.

Kagome sighed before stretching, making her way from her futon to the window to let Kirara in from her nightly hunt. Once the two-tailed cat was in, Kagome then made her way to where Naruto was sleeping. She shook her head when she saw the blonde's limbs sprawled everywhere and uncovered before grabbing of hold of his covers and pulling them over Naruto's form as he stirred a little but went back to sleep.

Once she was certain that Naruto would stay covered for the night, Kagome turned out the light and went to get what rest she could with Kirara snuggling under the covers with her.

Even when was time for Naruto and Kagome to wake up, the latter didn't bother getting up and Naruto was too tired to even bother waking Kagome up as he got ready and left without breakfast.

XoXoXoXoXoXoXo

At exactly 5am, three of the members of Team 7 met at the appointed training ground- two of them still half asleep while the third was wide awake. Sakura gave a halfhearted and tired good morning which Naruto returned more tiredly while almost sleepwalking.

Sasuke who was the only one wide-awake, looked around and noticed that they were one teammate short and asked, "Where's Kagome?"

"Well, she's right-" Naruto started groggily pointing to his side, but stopped when he noticed his female friend not there next to him. He then looked around muttering, "I thought she was right behind me…"

"Naruto! I thought Higurashi lived with you!" Sakura said crankily, still trying to get the sleep out of her eyes.

"She still does but I thought she would've woken up and get here before me… or at least be with to make sure I didn't fall asleep on the way here." Naruto replied. In reality, he really did thought Kagome would wake up before him so he didn't bother to check Kagome's bed and see if she was still asleep with Kirara. And so, left his friend behind to sleep in.

Inside, despite she was still a little tired, Inner Sakura was cackling, _'Ha! Higurashi is so gonna get in trouble when Kakashi-sensei sees that she's late after he arrives. She could even ultimately fail the test, then I can have Sasuke-kun all to myself!' _

Hours soon passed as they waited with the sun rising higher into the blue sky, and there was still no sign of either Kakashi or Kagome.

Sometime after 9am, Kagome arrived looking wide-awake and ready to take whatever came her way with Kirara waking by her side looking chipper. After giving a bright good morning, Sakura hounded on her as she stood, "You're late, Higurashi! When sensei finds out-"

But she was cut off when Kagome looked her in the eye and asked, "Haruno… do you even see or sense Kakashi-sensei anywhere?" When the green-eyed girl gave no answered, Kagome continued, "See… I'm not really late if sensei isn't here before me. If it were the other way around, then I would be in deep shit with him biting my head off about being on time. So for once… relax. He'll probably be here sometime before lunch and won't even bother to ask what time each of us arrived."

Kirara gave a mew of agreement, wagging her two tails.

The miko-nin was actually relieved to find that Kakashi wasn't there yet. She had woken up about an hour and a half after Naruto left the apartment and took a quick shower before doing the rest of her morning ritual. Kagome would've made it to the training grounds earlier but, out of habit, made breakfast for herself and Kirara that were of last night's leftovers.

Like she thought the night before… there was no way she was training or fighting on an empty stomach.

Sasuke and Naruto (who was now full awake) saw a point in that as Sakura was almost shaking with anger as she watched the dark haired girl sit next to Naruto. After a while, she just made a huff and turned her back to Kagome with her arms crossed even though Kagome look unaffected by this action as she continued to talk with Naruto, making plans on what to have for supper that night… even though Kagome ruled out Ramen before the blonde could even suggested it.

More time had passed after that with all of Team 7 continuing to wait while Kirara was nearby, looking like she was playing with a butterfly before Kakashi made his presence known- proving Kagome right that he arrive before noon, lunchtime.

Naruto and Sakura got to their feet quickly, yelling with angry glares, "YOU'RE LATE!" as Sasuke just gave a slight glare of his own and Kagome was coming out of her meditative trance. Sakura and Naruto's yelling disturbed her while almost surprising Kirara out of her wits before hissing at them both.

In a convincing voice, Kakashi gave on of his trademark excuses, "Well, a black cat crossed my path so…" but he didn't finish when he noticed none of them seemed to be buying it as they continued to look at him, unconvinced. Clearing his throat, Kakashi suggested they move on before walking up to one of the posts that were set on the training grounds and set a timer on the post in the middle, saying, "Alarm set at 12pm." Setting the timer, he continued bringing out three bells, the sound making Kirara's ears twitch in excitement, "Today's topic is to get one of these bells from me. Whoever can't, will have no lunch."

"EH!" Came Naruto's almost high-pitched voice, shocked at the cruelty of not being able to eat if you failed. Kagome muttered, asking him to calm down as Kakashi continued to explain as he pointed to the wooden posts, "I'm going to tie you there and eat lunch in front of you."

Kagome had to hold back her laughs when she heard the loud growls and grumbles of her teammates stomachs, as they now realized why their sensei didn't want them to eat breakfast. But couldn't help but feel proud that she and Kirara decided to eat against the Jounin's orders. Of course, she and her feline friend didn't let this show, not wanting Kakashi to catch onto them in disobeying one of his orders.

"But wait, why are there only three bells when there's four of us?" Sakura asked, finding something off about this.

Kagome wondered about this too, but decided to listen before making any possible theories as Kakashi seemingly smiled at them, answering, "Since there's only two bells, at least one of you will have to be tied to the post. That person will fail since he failed to complete the mission and go back to the academy. It might just be one or all four."

The child miko turning kunoichi furrowed her brows when hearing this, thinking something doesn't fit. 'Three out of one… three bells for three members while the fourth takes the fall and is left behind… there's gotta more than Kakashi is letting on.'

After Kakashi said that they were free to use any weapons we packed- Shuriken, Kunai, etc.- and that they have to come at him like they want to kill him, Sakura protested, "but that's too dangerous, Sensei! You could get hurt!"

Both Kagome and Kirara rolled their eyes before the human of the pair looked to the pink-haired and said, "Come on, Haruno, think about it- four beginning Genin with a two-tailed cat against one seasoned Jounin. Not to mention, the life of a Shinobi is an occupation that usually requires you to put your life on the line and be ready to take a life if necessary."

Before Sakura could make a retort but Naruto cut in, saying with a grin, "Kagome, come one! He couldn't even dodge that chalk eraser!"

"And… how can you dodge something that doesn't feel life threatening, Naruto?" Kagome asked her blond friend before Kakashi pointed out, "In society, those who don't have many abilities tend to complain more. Just ignore the guy with the lowest score."

Kagome cursed when she saw that Naruto had heard that, hoped beyond hope that he wouldn't take the bait.

As Kakashi was giving instruction on when he'll give the word for them to start, Naruto got angrier and angrier as what Kakashi said and how he was always called 'dead-last'. With his anger at its peak, Naruto drew a kunai and charged at Kakashi with Kagome yelling to him to not to attack.

But it was too late. Naruto didn't hear her and Kakashi moved too fast for him, holding the kunai that was still in the blonde's hand to the back of the said boy's head as the Jounin held the young Genin in place as he told him, "Don't get too hasty. I didn't say 'start; yet."

Although, during the distraction Naruto gave when he charged at their sensei, Kagome instinctively ordered Kirara to transform into her larger form without the others noticing and Kirara, on her own, made a move to encase her teeth around one of Kakashi's legs before she spoke, "Not so fast, sensei." Kagome's voice sounded much colder and very protective. Her aura darkened, showing that was ready to shed blood if need be. "Release him, or I'll give Kirara the go ahead to tear your leg clean off and make sure you retire from being a Ninja for good."

To make a point, Kirara clenched her jaw slightly making her smaller sharp teeth pinch Kakashi's skin and making him turn his attention to the now huge cat that now had his leg trapped in it's powerful looking jaws.

This surprised Sasuke and Sakura as much as it surprised their sensei, never once thinking that Kagome's familiar could grow larger in size and look more ferocious than the cute and fluffy kitten they were used to seeing.

Kakashi turned his surprised gaze to the dark haired girl of the team, remembering what the Hokage said about not taking her too lightly. Aside from her observant skills, he wondered if the Hokage meant this as well. He gave a chuckled before letting Naruto go and felt Kirara retract her teeth.

Everyone watched as flames engulfed her form, growing smaller. When the flames disappeared, the Kirara everyone was used to seeing before the mentioned feline gave a mew and made her way to her mistress' side.

'No way… Higurashi's cat could do such a thing? It was even as fast as Kakashi to get behind him…' Sakura thought before glancing at Kagome, asking herself, 'What else is Higurashi capable of?' Just thinking about it scared Sakura a little…

Sasuke narrowed his eyes. He was surprised at how fast a Jounin could be but more so with Kagome's control (trust and loyalty, really) over Kirara, who could become a larger and frightening animal that seemed like it could be almost in league with a Jounin's speed. It made his view about Kagome change into a new light, thinking that there's a chance that she may not slow him down as much as he thought she would.

Naruto wasn't the least bit surprised. He had seen Kirara's larger form plenty of times in the past year. He even got the chance to ride in her whenever Kagome went to fly so to clear her head a bit. At first, when the cat first changed forms in front of him, he was a bit scared but Kagome assured him that Kirara was harmless to those she trusted and saw as a friend.

Kakashi looked at the Genin he was assigned to teach before saying, a bit impressed, "It looks like you have the will to kill me now." He then chuckled, "I think I can finally start to like you four, including the cat." Making Kirara mew in glee before he announced, "We're going to start."

After the Jounin gave the go, Team 7 split up and took cover and to hide within the foliage the training grounds provided.

Hmmm… Minus the disclaimer and the Author Notes, the Word Count for this chapter is a little more than 5,000… about 1,000 more words than Chapter 3.

Hope you guys enjoyed this. Chapter 5 will be the official start of Kakashi's test about Teamwork.


End file.
